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As a professional urban designer and partner of the Planning and Design Firm Space Between Design Studio, I am a trained urbanist who specializes in creating walkable urban developments and analyzing existing places to find the barriers preventing livable, walkable urbanism. I can be reached at patrick [at] spacebtw.com

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

World, you tell me. Does option number 9 sound like a tear-down and reconstruction of the grid? The language is so vague that I interpreted it to be a tear-down and rebuild of another highway, "but to modern standards." And to modern standards, that surely means 1980's finest. Modern standards to me also might be interpreted as, "complex grid of high quality, walkable, urban streets."

Also, "Purchase Right-of-way" could mean land sales of right-of-way to private investment (possibly through an intermediary like City of Dallas or a to-be-established Development Corporation, focused strictly on the redevelopment of the area (preferred). Or, it could mean that in order to bring the "facility up to modern standards," requires further ROW purchase from TxDOT to widen and expand the capacity of the highway, in order to "improve level of service for the 160,000 cars/day. As we know, that will simply mean that it will move 200,000+ per day instead and we're all worse off for it.

People are telling me this is the option I'm looking for, but I don't buy it. There is still a lot left to be determined, but we must ensure that the scenarios properly factor all possible solutions and benefits for the city of Dallas and the nearby neighborhoods including potential private investment and new tax base. To which, there is only one option that would incent any new investment. And that requires the removal of the highway and the replacement with a legitimate grid of streets and blocks.

Walkably Quotable

"The American love affair with the car...it's an awful lot like Stockholm Syndrome." ~ Me.In the Sixties the philosopher Ivan Illich showed that the amount of energy invested into cars and road infrastructure would be sufficient to cover the distance by foot - and in a considerably more beautiful and peaceful environment.

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In the Sixties, the philosopher Ivan Illich showedthat the amount of energy invested into cars and road infrastructure would be sufficient to cover the distance by foot - and in a considerably more beautiful and peaceful environment.